It has been many years coming, but finally the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon has delivered a black winner. Seven-time winner Martin Dreyer paddled into Durban’s Blue Lagoon with Michael Mbanjwa, clocking seven hours, 33 minutes and 24 seconds for the three-day haul from Pietermaritzburg.
In the end it was the notorious Burma Road portage that decided the race, starting with a one-minute, 47-second lead. Any mistake would have been disastrous.
The highly experienced Dreyer took his young protégé over the top, while the chasing pairing of Ant Stott and Wayne Thompson elected to paddle around. Both Stott and Thompson, who finished second, stated before the race that to be competitive they would have to take risks and shoot the big rapids that would take too long to portage.
To give themselves enough of a cushion going down to the coast, they had to run hard, clocking the fastest time yet by more than two minutes.
The strong-flowing river, ideal weather conditions and the closeness of the competition resulted in the top three pairings breaking the course record, with Dreyer and company breaking the last-day record by 30 seconds.
The final spot on the podium was occupied by Hank McGregor, who shared a boat with Dreyer for the 2006 win, but this time elected to paddle with Sven Bruss (7:39:52).
There was no position change for the fourth-placed Deon Bruss and Nick Stubbs, who clocked 7:50:55. It should have been a dream Dusi placing for Cradock farmer Greg Louw and Craig Turton, but they were nudged out of fifth by Shaun Biggs and Michael Arthur.
As expected, Alexa Lombard and Abbey Miedema proved unbeatable, winning the women’s race in 8:46:03, beating Laura Thompson and Robyn Kime (9:05:06) and the Debbie Germiquet/Hillary Jean Pitchford pairing (9:30:50).
A foot entrapment almost ended in tragedy on Saturday at the Tops Needle, the first rapid of the marathon, after the husband-and-wife team of Jen and James Hackland fell out of their canoe and Jen’s foot became trapped.
Quick reaction by officials, however, ensured she could be freed without serious injury. She was extremely traumatised afterwards and pulled out of the race. — Sapa